Late comeback for Jr. A’s
Jr. A Lakers score four late goals for 7-4 win over Braves, to pick up their third win of season
The Peterborough Merit Precision Junior A Lakers are finally on a bit of a roll and gaining confidence every game. Now they just hope it’s not too late.
The Lakers rode four goals in the final 2:44 to a 7-4 win over the Kitchener-Waterloo Braves in front of 242 fans at the Memorial Centre on Monday night.
The victory followed a road win over Burlington last Wednesday and a tie against Orangeville at home last Monday to give Peterborough a three-game unbeaten streak and move them out of last place, one point ahead of Barrie. At 3-11-1, the Lakers can still in theory catch any team from Whitby and Orangeville, tied for fourth with 17 points, on down.
Goalie Drew Hutchison was outstanding, making 48 saves including a handful of wide open scoring chances in the third period. The defence in front of him was also solid.
“Confidence is big for those guys and I don’t think there’s any reason they shouldn’t have confidence. We have big strong guys back there and as they’re gaining confidence that’s when they start playing better,” said Lakers defensive coach Mark Farthing. “The more confidence they have, the more physical they play, the more they talk to each other. The whole game just kind of rolls together. We finally have a group that’s gelling together. We hope it’s not too late.”
The defence had to be sharp to keep the Lakers in the game because the offence wasn’t having much luck against Braves’ goalie Steven Orleman, who finished the game with 55 saves on 62 shots and made the Lakers earn every goal they scored.
K-W led 2-0 after the first period. Taite Cattoni finally got the Lakers on the board at 2:14 of the second but it took a gorgeous individual effort to do it. Cattoni slinkied his way between a pair of defenders to drive to the net and tuck a twister between the shoulder of Orleman, the post and the crossbar.
It was 3-2 for K-W after 40 minutes and they pulled back in front in the third when John Nay scored in transition after Lakers captain Jay Fox had tied it up.
Kyle Killen picked the top corner with an outside rip at 17:16 to make it 4-4. Then Jordan Stouros made a bold statement and followed through on it.
Before the faceoff following Killen’s goal, “He told the boys we’re not going to overtime,” Farthing said. “I told Foxy, ‘We’re finishing it right now,’” Stouros confirmed.
Stouros snagged a loose ball and ran through two checks to create a two-on-one with Parker Sands. The defender took away the pass, so Stouros threw a hard fake then tucked the ball over Orleman’s far shoulder.
“I thought it missed the net, then all of a sudden I saw Parker put his hands up and that’s when I started cellying,” Stouros said.
The Lakers still face a steep climb to the playoffs; they trail eighth-place Toronto by six points.
“You’d have a tough time telling anyone in that dressing room that we don’t have a chance right now,” Farthing said about the excited Lakers team. Stouros agreed wholeheartedly.
“We were tired of losing and disappointing the fans. We were disappointed in ourselves,” Stouros said. “Now we’re going to keep going. Now we’re rolling and we’re not stopping.”